Washing-machine



UNITED STATES GEORGE HARGREAVES,

WASHING OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,695, dated April 26, 1887.

Application filed January 14, i886. Serial No. 188,524. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE HARGREAVES, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vashing-Machines;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

My invention has relation to washing-machines; and it has for its object to provide an improved portable machine of this class which will facilitate the washing of clothes, as hereinafter described; and it consists in the improved details of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which I shall now proceed to fully describe, and the specific points of novelty in which will be pointed out in the claims'hereto annexed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the whole device with parts broken away to expose the interior construction, and Fig. 2 is a View in detail of a portion of the top in plan view to clearly illustrate the construction of the two compartments of the hopper.

Likeletters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings by letter, A is the body of the boiler, and a is the base thereof, which is intended to rest upon the top of any desirable form of stove or furnace. I

The boiler A is of rectangular shape, and B is the cover or top thereof, which is adapted to fit on top of the boiler A, the general form of the cover being substantially semi-cylindrical.

C is a hopper opening into cover B from the top, and divided into two compartments, 1) c, by a partition, (Z. The side or compartment 1) communicates with the interior of the boiler by a sieve, e, and is of larger dimensions than the side 0, which has a pipe, f, leading therebe removed from the boiler-body and adjusted thereon at will.

E is the revolving clothes holder or receptacle of the form shown, journaled in circular recesses in the edges of body A and cover B, and is provided with the spindle z, to which a crank or suitable handle may be attached for imparting motion to the clothes-holder. The sides of this holder E are made of perforated sheet metal, While its periphery is of woven or interlaced wire, as shown, the object being to form the holder or basket sufficiently closed on the sides to hold the clothes being cleansed, and at the same time the periphery sufficiently open to allow of the free entrance and circulation of the water or steam therethrough. The periphery]? is provided with a hinged door of sufficient size to allow of the insertion and removal of the contents, the said door being also of woven wire.

The holder above referred to has portions of its periphery formed into a desirable number of V-shaped indentations or projections, as shown at j k, by means of which the contents of the holder are continuously displaced and turned over during the revolution of the basket, thus exposing the Whole surface of the clothing to the action of the steam or water, thelatter of which is first introduced through the side I), and flows through the open periphery of the wheel. The indentations are formed of perforated sheet metal, and each of the indentations is has an outer scoopshaped cover,

volves, and permits the water to run through the perforated sides in on when the indentation is raised in its circuit.

The indentations j, as herewith illustrated, are of a 'difierent construction, being used merely to catch and lift the contents while the holder or cage is being rotated, carrying them up to the highest possible point, where they (the clothes) are released by the descent of the indentation j on the other side, and allowed to fall down until they come in contact with another indentation, thereby continually agitating and displacing the contents of said holder while in operation. I

G is a glass or other gage to indicate the height of the water in the boiler.

H is a cock or faucet for drawing off the water from the boiler, or for the purpose of Z, which takes up the water as the wheel re- The wheel and contents are turned for about twenty minutes, said wheel, as before stated, running in about an inch or more of water. When sufficient steaming has been done, from one-half to two-thirds of the unclean water is drawn off by means of the faucet, and the rinsing process is commenced by pouring clean hot water through the sieve c, which forms the bottom of compartment 1) of the hopper, the clothes being continuously revolved and displaced in the wheel as the water falls upon them. During the process of rinsing, as before stated, the water is to be kept below the bottom of the wheel, so that only the clean water recently poured in will come in contact with the clothes. After thorough rinsing the contents may be removed and subjected to the usual bluing and starching process.

' After the water has been introduced through the compartment 1), the boiler-body is filled and its contents heated to the desired temperature. If it should then be found necessary or desirable to introduce more water into the boiler-body while the apparatus is in operation, it can be poured into pipe f, which communicates with pipe 9, thereby conducting the cold water to the bottom of the boiler, and

consequently nearer to the heat, thus obviating the necessity of pouring it down through compartment b and through the clothes therein. This pipe could also be utilized for introducing cleansing compounds into the reservoir while the cage is being rotated.

Having thus fully described my invention,-

what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination of the boiler-body, the cover fitting thereon and provided with a hopper divided into two compartments, the pipe f, tube and the revolving clothes-holder having its periphery of woven wire and its sides of perforated sheet metal, as set forth.

2. The combination of the boiler-body having pipe 9, the cover 0, having hopper provided with two compartments, Z) and 0, and the pipef, with the revolving clothes-holder, the periphery of which is of woven or interlaced wire and its sides of perforated sheet metal, and the inward projectionsj and 7c, the projections 70 being made of perforated sheet metal and provided with scoop-cover Z, and the projections j formed of woven or interlaced wire, as shown.

3. The combination of the boiler-body and tubeg, with cover 0, having hopper B, divided into compartments 1) e, the sieve e, forming the bottom of compartment 1), and pipef, leading from compartment 0 to tube 9, as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I hereunto affix my signature in presenceof two witnesses. I

GEORGE HARGREAVES.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM GUENTHER, FRED. GUENTHER. 

